Thermoplastic resins are resins which exhibit plasticity when heated and turn solid when cooled. Thermoplastic resins are typically classified as ‘ordinary plastic’ such as polyethylene resin, polypropylene resin, acrylic resin, styrene resin and vinyl resin and ‘engineering plastic’ such as polycarbonate resin, polyphenylene ether resin, polyamide resin, polyester resin and polyimide resin.
Thermoplastic resins have excellent processability and moldability so that they have been widely used in various products for day-to-day life, office automation machinery and electric and electronic goods. In addition, there have been many attempts to impart special properties to thermoplastic resins based on the kinds and qualities of the targeted final products, which can increase their value.
For example, when the thermoplastic resin is used in a technical field where surface friction between resin products or with other materials is strong, the thermoplastic resin should have electric conductivity and wear resistance to prevent the generation of electric charge and to prevent damage or contamination of products due to resin abrasion.
Various additives can be added to a thermoplastic resin to improve a specific property thereof, such as electric conductivity or wear resistance. Such additives, however, can be limited with respect to their ability to improve multiple different properties, and thus are conventionally used to improve only one physical property of a thermoplastic resin.